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Author
Topic: "We Were Here": New AIDS Documentary (Read 6781 times)

David Weissman's remarkable and deeply moving new documentary, "We Were Here," about the early days of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco in the 1980s has debuted at Sundance Film Festival 2011. Told through the lens of four gay men and a straight female nurse who were there at the time, it's received rave reviews. Below are links to an essay-review from indiewire and and the trailer.

HBO is premiering a documentary about Ronald Reagan Monday at 9pm. We've recently discussed how some media outlets have glossed over his role (or lack of) in HIV/AIDS. It will be interesting to see if HBO covers the HIV part in more detail.

What a wonderful interview! Thanks, Ray. I really believe this film can do so much to obviate the generation gap that is so evident in the gay community--even here on this site, with the strife that intermittently occurs between LTS'ers and those newly diagnosed. With the decimation of two generations, communication between the oldest and the youngest has been exacerbated by an even wider gap. The old-timers, like myself, and the middle-agers are fewer in number than they normally would be, and the 20-year-olds don't really know what it was like to be part of the gay community in the early 1980s.

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"No one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences."--Albert Camus, "The Plague"

"Mankind can never be free until the last brick in the last church falls on the head of the last priest."--Voltaire

This documentary has acquired a distributor, with theatrical release scheduled for September 2011 and TV release on PBS in the spring of 2012. This is great news:

Los Angeles – April 20, 2011 – Red Flag Releasing announced today that it has acquired “WE WERE HERE,” produced and directed by David Weissman and editor/co-director Bill Weber. The film recently world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival followed by the Berlin International Film Festival. Red Flag will theatrically release the film in September 2011.

WE WERE HERE is the first documentary to take a deep and reflective look back at the impact of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco when it was first identified 30 years ago this year. It explores how the City’s inhabitants were affected by, and responded to the calamitous epidemic. WE WERE HERE reaches beyond San Francisco and the human toll of AIDS itself. It is an inspirational film that speaks to the human capacity of individuals to rise to the occasion, and to the incredible collective power of a community coming together with love, compassion, and determination.

Red Flag Releasing will distribute the film in partnership with the filmmakers, The Film Collaborative, New Video and PBS’ Independent Lens, creating a release pattern fitting for this incredibly moving look into the tragedy and eventual triumph of a community organizing to respond to the AIDS epidemic. The film’s release will include theatrical, OnDemand, DVD, digital download channels, and television (in spring 2012), as well as an educational/non-theatrical outreach component through New Yorker Films. The film’s worldwide producer’s rep Jonathan Dana and TFC’s Orly Ravid orchestrated the deals.

David Weissman and Bill Weber previously made the acclaimed 2001 documentary, The Cockettes, also repped by Dana, which chronicled San Francisco’s legendary theater troupe of hippies and drag queens from 1969 – 1972. WE WERE HERE revisits the city a decade later, as its flourishing gay community is hit with an unimaginable disaster.

"We Were Here" richly deserves the first class treatment it will receive across all windows and platforms – a real 'Distribution 2.0' strategy in action. We couldn't be happier," said Dana.

"I felt strongly that this film needed to be made by someone who’d lived through the onset of AIDS - the horror, and beauty - of those years. So it’s deeply gratifying to have partners in distribution who fully share my passion that this history not be forgotten." said Weissman.

“We are proud to be releasing this powerful film. It is an affirmation of the community’s great strides over the last 30 years, and honors the many friends we’ve lost along the way,” said Paul Federbush of Red Flag Releasing.

“We were deeply moved by WE WERE HERE at its premiere, when we committed to helping David and Bill reach a larger home audience through digital and DVD release,” said Mark Kashden, V.P. Acquisitions, New Video. “We look forward to working with such capable partners on a successful campaign.”

"Independent Lens is extremely pleased to present the television premiere of David Weissman's deeply moving, seminal film," said Lois Vossen, Independent Lens Series Producer. “WE WERE HERE is a brave testament to millions of Americans who suffered from HIV AIDS, and to the extraordinary men and women who cared for them. Like The Times of Harvey Milk, this unflinching, important film will become a touchstone for future generations looking to understand this historic time."

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"No one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences."--Albert Camus, "The Plague"

"Mankind can never be free until the last brick in the last church falls on the head of the last priest."--Voltaire

I have just now heard of this film, watched the trailer and had a little spontaneous sob spell. I'm not sure I could make it through an entire feature-length documentary like that.

I moved into downtown Boston the day after my last day of High School in 1978; the plague hit us later than NYC or SF, but was no less devastating. I stopped counting the dead whom I knew personally at sixty, and that was still in the 80s.

One of the reasons why I stay down here in SoFla (despite some pretty terrible culture clashes) is that I'm never the oldest guy anywhere I go; the same cannot be said of Boston. I feel more comfortable being with my age peers.

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Blessed with brains, talent and gorgeous tits.

The revolutionary smart set reads The Spin Cycle at least once every day.

A large group of us were there not long ago and didn't get to see you.

I know Wolfter, that was my fail.

@Bucko. I can only imagine. I'm a little bit younger. While I remember those years I was not acutely affected. It looks like a great film. Plus I'm a bit of a 1970's era san francisco afficianado ( if there ever was such a thing). My favorite book was/is Tales of the City. I'm hoping to see some old footage of the city.

@Bucko. I can only imagine. I'm a little bit younger. While I remember those years I was not acutely affected. It looks like a great film. Plus I'm a bit of a 1970's era san francisco afficianado ( if there ever was such a thing). My favorite book was/is Tales of the City. I'm hoping to see some old footage of the city.

While I don't dwell on it, my 20s and early 30s were hell on Earth: believe it, baby. I count three of my exes and one long-term whatever among that causalities.

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Blessed with brains, talent and gorgeous tits.

The revolutionary smart set reads The Spin Cycle at least once every day.

I saw the film in New York a few weeks ago. I was living in Atlanta during the time frame the film explores. While things happened in Atlanta a few years after San Francisco, it was very similar.

The film was very powerful and tells a story that needs to be told and remembered....especially for those that did not live through it. Emotionally, it was tough to get through but I left the theatre with a renewed sense of gratitude that I'm still here. I owned a gay bar during that time with about 40-50 employees. I am one of only 3 or 4 survivors. So many beautiful boys lost.

Wow, just walked back from the cinema having watched this documentary "We Were Here". Powerful, moving and an important part of our history as gay men living with this disease. As newly infected and newly medicating, it really put things in perspective for me. This film introduces us to the real hero's in this fight. The courageous people who stood up and fought back and mobilized efforts against this disease. The brave men who put themselves in trial studies only to have their lives cut shorter. Those that donated body parts to help researchers find out more. The front line health care workers that volunteered to work these units in hospitals when no one else would, the friends and volunteers who did not run but ran towards the fire to help comfort and care for the stricken. A beautiful tribute to all those before us that led the fight. Sad that they are not here today to see how far we have come but of course how much more fighting we need to do.The past few months, weeks and days I have been having a pity party of One and sitting in that cinema in the dark made me realize i have so much to be thankful for and made me realize I can do much more. I thought of a quote in my head " I don't want your pity, I want your voice! Tell your govts., tell your friends, tell the world. We want a cure! go see this film and fight this disease with all your might. Thank you to the brave warriors that came before us!

Went to the see it in PDX tonight, and it was incredibly moving-- randomly the director was there... He did a Q&A after the show.

More than anything it makes me glad that I'm not going through this 25 years ago. It rightly gives credit to the thousands that participated in the trials that resulted in the drugs that are keeping us alive.